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Friday, March 28, 2014

Sepia Saturday: The Flood of 1936

Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family
history through old photographs.

This week’s Sepia Saturday prompt depicting a flood
forced me to take a second look at a small stack of ho-hum photos marked “Flood
of 1936.” They were among the many
photos passed down to me from my grandaunts Violetta Davis Ryan and Velma Davis
Woodring.

I say “ho-hum” because had the photos not been labeled,
they would have passed as mere pictures of rocks and logs in the Shenandoah
River. However, in fact, the pictures
are practically historic. The Flood of
1936 ranks #7 among the top 10 worst floods in Virginia.

Shenandoah River 1936

In 1936, snow followed by thaw followed by more snow left
the ground too saturated to handle the torrential rains of March 17 and 18.

My aunts and grandparents were only affected by the
flooding of the Shenandoah River although similar devastation was felt in
Culpeper with the flooding of the Rapidan River, in Fredericksburg with the
Rappahannock River, in Richmond with the James River, and Washington DC and
neighboring cities along the Potomac River.

I imagine work was disrupted for quite awhile. The town of Shenandoah was without
electricity as the substation was flooded.

Flooded substation on Shenandoah River 1936
photo from Library of Congress
no known restrictions
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/071_fsab.html

Some roads and bridges were washed away, and others were blocked by
mudslides. Trains stopped running
because the tracks and railroad trestles were unstable if not totally
destroyed. This alone must have created
an economic crisis since Shenandoah was a major hub for the Norfolk &
Western Railway Company where quite a few of my relatives worked. Needless to say, schools closed and plants shut down for days.

Shenandoah River 1936

Shenandoah River 1936

While the town itself was flood-prone due to its location
along the Shenandoah River, I don’t believe my grandparents or other relatives
lost their homes. The town is very
hilly, and everyone that I know of lived on higher ground. However, there were reports of many families
abandoning their homes and moving up to where the Skyline Drive is today.

Some lives were lost when cars were swept away in the
flood and when boats capsized. But
probably the most tragic loss occurred days after the rains stopped. Flood waters created a pool in the yard of a Mrs. Mary
Lam. While she was busy inside the house,
her four children ages 3-9 all drowned.

The winter of 1935-1936 was much like the winter we’ve
been experiencing in 2013-2014: extended
periods of low temperatures and lots of snow followed by some mild temperatures
and then more snow.

How horrible that the children all died! Timing of this post is appropriate since I live in the region of the Oso landslide which happened 6 days ago - practically the entire town has been wiped out and the number of dead is mind-boggling. Sadly, Mother Nature does what she chooses.

It's hard to understand how a mother & grandfather, who must have known about the large pool in the yard, could leave the children unattended in such a situation. I'm thinking one of the children may have found themselves in trouble & the others tried to help. One of them surely must have cried out, yet no one heard them? And yet scenarios like that one happen over & over again & it's so sad.

I thought much the same thing. I can see if this was out in the country that the house might have been a distance from the "pool" preventing adults from hearing any cries, but still, why let the kids outside?? Just a horrible mistake in judgment, I suppose.

We here in Atlantic Canada are experiencing a long, snowy, cold winter. We have so much snow, we do not know where to put it every time there is a snow storm. Usually at this time of the year, the river is open and the snow is gone. Hopefully, it will not warm up too fast or else I will have plenty of "flood" pictures to show in another Sepia Saturday. Very sad for the 4 children :(

For all those people living near the several Virginia rivers you named, I hope along with you that history doesn't repeat itself. That would be dreadful.

Moving water can be a powerful force. Several years ago, when one of our levees broke (we live on a river delta), my husband served as the public information officer for a local agency covering the news. Of course, while he was reporting, I was glued to the set!

Of course, now we have so many other resources for pictorially documenting such water damage. I'll never forget seeing a news clip shot from a hovering helicopter, in which the levee was succumbing to the swirling water around it. In a surreal way, from a fuzzy distance, though it was literally crumbling, it looked much like a soggy cookie would crumble into a glass of milk. The horror was realizing this wasn't a closeup of a cookie, but a shot from a distance showing asphalt from the service road atop the levee, along with supporting rocks and the underlying compacted earth--all crumbling just that easily.

Swiftly moving water is mesmerizing to watch, but really, you don't want to be in it. I'm always amazed at the beach, I start off HERE only up to my ankles to cool off, but after a few waves I'm over THERE and haven't even fallen down which might have explained the move.

Nature is always mesmerizing, even at its worst, and people become awestruck at seeing its power. Several years ago when hurricanes brought torrential rain to the mountains of Western North Carolina our modest French Broad River swelled to gigantic size flooding areas that had not seen such high water for a hundred years. From a high bridge I took photos of the rushing water and watched the terrific force of the river for a long time. It was unforgettable.

Floods have a tremendous destructive capacity and they do seem to have been dominating the news in this country over the last six months. With all the publicity generated by 24 hour news channels, we tend to forget that floods have always been a challenge to communities - thanks for reminding us

Rosie and I are facing the same kind of spring (she is north of me): lots of snow, lots of ice, everything thawing at once...but I never thought about the Shenandoah; somehow I don't think of snow there.

My cousins grew up in the Shenandoah valley, and they always had snow when no one else in the state did. Here in Chesapeake, we get snow roughly every other year, but this winter has brought snow 3 times. Amazing.

It is interesting to note how the weather has a way of repeating itself over the decades. Those of us experiencing the weather anomalies for the first time find it hard to believe it has happened before. How very astute of your Aunt to take those pictures, and how interesting that you are now looking at them in a different light. Good stuff, Wendy!Sue at CollectInTexas Gal

I'm glad you had another look at those 'uninteresting' photos. There must be so many similar photos lying about in cupboards or thrown out because they are thought to have no historical or monetary value.

I've never lived through a flood, or any major disaster for that matter, but as I watch and read the news, it all seems so devastating. It's hard to imagine picking one's self up and carrying on after losing nearly everything. Isn't it wonderful that your aunts recorded information about those photographs!

I think 1936 might have been a year of flooding in PA and possibly other eastern areas. I recall hearing about the Allegheny flooding that year from older family members, that was why they never wanted to live too near the rivers, always preferred being up the hills.

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About Me

My name is Wendy. About twenty years ago, I helped my mother research the Jolletts. Since retiring from teaching, I have expanded my research which I share here. When I’m not looking for my own family, I index for FamilySearch and the Greene County Historical Society.
Welcome to Jollett Etc. Please leave a comment to let me know you were here. If you have more information or believe we are related, EMAIL ME at wendymath at cox dot net